For prayer and reflection this week. Sunday: 11th July 2020
Prayer for the week:
Dear Lord,
As we muddle through another week
uncertain of what is to come
be with us and lead us.
Help us to listen for your voice calling
and help us to remember that you will never leave us
nor forsake us, but will always be there
to guide us and keep us safe.
In your name we pray. Amen.
For reflection:
Today I found myself a little lost with what to share with you this week, which is why I then came to consider how many times we feel a little lost in life. We can be lost for words, we can be lost in a conversation, we can feel lost even when with a group of friends, and we can certainly feel lost in the world’s madness. What I wanted to share with you I have heard many times over the last few months and that is “it is ok, not to be ok”. Sometimes we strive so hard to achieve and feel lost when we don’t. Or we feel lost when we haven’t met up to what we feel is expected of us, or what we feel we should have achieved. Consider the lost sheep. The one sheep left the fold, he left the protection and the company of others, why we will never know, but the great shepherd left the 99 to find the one that was lost. Does that mean he didn’t care for the 99, of course not, what that means is that he knew the 99 were safe but that the 1 needed him. Jesus is there for us in exactly the same way, whether we feel ok, or whether we feel not ok, he will lead us, he will keep us safe. We just need to listen out for his voice calling us. Helen
My car was collected by a mechanic at the beginning of this week and taken for a service and an MOT. I was quite happy about this until I saw the bill. Then I most definitely was unhappy I had to have four new tyres and new brake pads. All the tyres were split and this apparently was caused by just being left in one position for so many weeks. Although to be fair, I did know that two tyres were on the way out but certainly not all four. So I started to think, it clearly isn’t a good thing to stand still. However we achieve it, either by fellowship, Bible reading or prayer we all need to be moving forward in our journey with Christ. Sometimes there are dark valleys we have to pass through, and at these times it’s not always easy to hold on to our faith and trust God to bring us through Travelling companions help out a great deal with their support and encouragement and their prayers, So the tyres made me think about travelling. But also I had to have new brake pads. So I not only thought about moving forward but also being able to stop when necessary. This enforced lockdown have given us all the opportunity to take a step back from our normal lives, and the brake has been put on everything. Maybe it has given us all the opportunity to take a step back and evaluate our lives. Are our lives too busy and full of meaningless matters. It’s given us the opportunity to think through just what is important and how valuable we are to each other. Corrie Ten Boom said ‘Is Jesus your driving wheel or your spare wheel?’ Is He always in charge of what you do or do you just turn to him when you are trouble? I am trying to let him be in the driving seat of my life. I think I’m a bit like a back-seat driver, being driven but constantly voicing my opinions. I am aiming at being totally relaxed and allowing Jesus to lead the way. And I can tell you I’m quite along way off that happening. We are beginning to plan on how, as a church , we will look when we are able to meet again. The set up may be slightly different but we will all be back worshipping together. At the moment we are planning on opening at the beginning of August all being well. So fingers crossed folk. See you soon. Pat
Virtual Church :- I hope we were all able to join worship last Sunday or during the week. The technical staff with the new format improved our reception and made it available to all Thank You Team
Sunday Service 10 am – 11:30 The Evening service 6:30 is Revd Ruth’s farewell service
Browser (eg Chrome) goto: https://church.valeofstour.org.uk/vosworship.
Problems - particularly older phones and tablets? https://www.valeofstour.org.uk/v irtual-church/live/vosworship
Thank you Derek for prayer and reflection, and for the first time I’ve found the live service, and watched it this morning. xx ( from one of our members with older I pad )
We have a special announcement this week Congratulations to Chris and Mike who celebrated their Golden Wedding on Wednesday
Due to the virus preventing a Church General Meeting two weeks ago you were asked to vote accepting David as our Church Steward Revd Alan and Jules confirm that the required votes received appoints David as Church Steward
David we thank you for taking on this important office at this difficult time. We pray that you will receive Divine guidance with the decisions you will have to make.
It is with a measure of sadness we report that Madeline passed away on Wednesday Evening
Prayer Requests
Ros & Helen as they deal with the loss of Mom
Bob Sandra and girls, Bob is now waiting for further investigation.
Mike and Christine Pearson Christine is now resident in Wychbury Nursing Home. Mike has health issues too
My thanks to Helen and Pat for their contributions to Prayer and Reflections
To our many friends Just to let you know that during lockdown you are not forgotten and we look forward to a return to normal in the weeks ahead. This Prayer and Reflection can be read on the church web site each week during church lockdown Derek